WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Mark Udall and Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins are cobbling together a last-minute GOP-inspired idea to modify the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts scheduled to take effect Friday by giving the power back to the president and Congress.

The Udall-Collins plan, to be introduced Monday, is not dramatically different from what House Republicans have been promoting as an alternative to the so-called sequester.

Udall's plan keeps cuts at the same level, but gives the executive branch the discretion to find the cuts themselves.

"Blunt, short-sighted budget cuts are not the responsible way to reduce the deficit," he said.

The Udall-Collins plan requires the president to send his version of cuts to each department to the Senate and House appropriations committee, which would have five days to accept or reject the proposal.

If both committees accept the proposal, then it will take effect, but if either committee rejects the president's proposals, the cuts-across-the-board sequester would remain.

The Udall-Collins plan was among dozens of ideas zipping around Capitol Hill Thursday, mere hours before the deadline when automatic spending cuts take effect.

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Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, has proposed an alternative plan that increases the cuts to the military but does it in a targeted away so fewer civilians would be affected.

Senate Democrats floated an idea to replace the automatic cuts with a blend of tax increases and targeted eliminations of some federal programs. It didn't get enough votes to pass because Republicans weren't on board.

House Republicans have pushed a plan to keep the $85 billion in cuts the same, but give the executive branch discretion on where to cut defense spending.

The White House rejected this Thursday, leaving questions on how President Barack Obama would handle a bipartisan Senate proposal that looks similar to what House Republicans want.

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